“The male Northern Cardinal is perhaps responsible for getting more people to open up a field guide than any other bird. They’re a perfect combination of familiarity, conspicuousness, and style: a shade of red you can’t take your eyes off. Even the brown females sport a sharp crest and warm red accents. Cardinals don’t migrate and they don’t molt into a dull plumage, so they’re still breathtaking in winter’s snowy backyards. In summer, their sweet whistles are one of the first sounds of the morning. " Cornell Labs

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A fine shot of Mr Red… & you are so right about that color! Our resident pair are looking pretty bedraggled at the moment; a beat-up brace of post-parental clowns. But the molt will soon be over, & as you say, they’ll be back to their normal brilliance before long. Big confrontation yesterday between a young (but full-sized & full-fledged ~ no longer in the pin-head stage) Blue Jay & Ma Cardinal. They both went after the same peanut (yes, recently the adult Cardinals have taken to grabbing big peanuts in the shell & flying off with them), & the female Cardinal won. Hands down. The jay had already picked the peanut up, but she swooped in immediately, making a devilish noise that I don’t think I ever heard from a Cardinal before… a great gnashing of teeth, I called it. The Blue Jay was utterly nonplussed & dropped the peanut; Ma Cardinal picked it up, still growling, & made off with it. Big Baby Jay looked forlorn, but I tossed him another morsel, & off he went. Never a dull moment.